Doc: Bearcats have time to resolve their issues

Though losing three of four is not ideal

Jan. 8, 2013

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The Bearcats allowed a 10-point run late in the second half by Notre Dame on Monday night. / The Enquirer/Joseph Fuqua II

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Basketball seasons aren’t won or lost on Jan. 7. Who you are in early January and who you intend to be in early March often are two different things. That’s good news for UC, which remains a question in need of some answers.

Notre Dame came into Fifth Third Arena Monday and gave the Bearcats a trim. It had nothing to do with the post-game head-shaving offered UC president Santa Ono. Ono made a vow of baldness if UC started its season with 10 wins. Nice gesture, prez. You might have wanted to re-think it. The Bearcats have lost three of four.

If nothing else, the Fighting Irish offered the Bearcats a lesson in ball movement. The Irish passing game is BCS-worthy. Patient, experienced, efficient. “There’s a culture of passing the ball here,’’ ND coach Mike Brey said. “We recruit Basketball IQ guys. There’s a lot of trust we’re going to keep moving that thing. We enjoy how we can get people out of position.’’

They must have had a blast Monday night. Cross-court passes, seeing-eye dishes from the lane to the corners, clock-beating assists. The whole Joe Montana catalog. It translated into lots of open threes, which the visitors drained regularly. After missing its first three threes, Notre Dame made eight of its next nine. A trey by Scott Martin bloated the Irish lead to 62-51, with 5:06 to play. They hung on for a 66-60 win.

If you looked at the numbers, you wondered how the Irish won so convincingly. UC had more assists (18 to 14), shot 47 percent from the field overall and 43 percent from three-point range. The Bearcats had five more rebounds, and just two more turnovers than the visitors. They played a representative game on offense. And yet they were climbing a mountain most of the second half.

“Eighteeen assists on 23 baskets,’’ Cronin noted.

True, and a little misleading. Watching the Bearcats in the halfcourt can be like a trip to the oral surgeon. Just because they handled the ball well – at least in the first half, when they only had two turnovers – doesn’t mean they were efficient with it.

They don’t screen much, maybe because they don’t have screeners that the other team is especially worried about. Screening works best when the screener is a scoring threat. The Bearcats don’t pass the ball like Notre Dame. Not many teams do. When UC isn’t running, its offense isn’t pretty.

Cronin is searching. He’s mixing and matching. He benched Justin Jackson and started Titus Rubles. Rubles is long and can handle the ball. He also missed eight of nine shots. Jackson had started the first 15 games. He didn’t leave the bench Monday. Jackson brings energy and defense. He doesn’t bring points.

After Rubles airballed a three late in the first half, Cronin replaced him with Jermaine Sanders, who promptly drained two threes himself. Cronin noted he played 10 players, and all of them scored. That’s good as far as it goes. But when you’re limited in what you can do in the half court, you need to develop a trust in a scorer or two, and find ways to get those players open looks.

That didn’t happen Monday. It became painfully obvious in the last half-minute, when UC trailed 64-60 and needed a quick basket. Cashmere Wright, all 6 feet of him, dribbled quickly down the court, stopped at the top of the key and attempted a three. . . which was entirely swatted by Notre Dame’s 6-9 Jack Cooley.

Fans screamed at Wright for not passing the ball. But really, who was he going to pass it to?

“We’re used to being in this spot,’’ Cronin allowed. “I’m used to people second-guessing me, (and) national people thinking we’re not any good. My kids did a lot of things well tonight. When a team is hitting on all cylinders, they’re hard to beat. This was a team we could score against. And we didn’t score.’’

That’s a problem. Cronin and his team have two months to solve it. In college basketball, two months is an eternity. For better or worse.